Presidential panel to quiz Jonathan over recovered $50m

Former President Goodluck Jonathan is reportedly among the high-profile individuals to be questioned by the Presidential panel investigating the $50 million recovered from an Ikoyi apartment.

Last Wednesday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered the cash haul in a flat in Osborne Towers following a sting operation which was aided by a whistle-blower.

According to Premium Times, the panel will also question Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu; the suspended Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ayodele Oke, and his predecessor, Olaniyi Oladeji.

Also on the list is the owner of the building where the money was found, and the EFCC official who led the operation.

The three-man panel, which is led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, will also be briefed by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, on what he knows following reports that Oke briefed him on the NIA operation prior to the discovery of the money.

Although, Monguno is also a member of the investigating committee.

The Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami is the third member of the panel, which was constituted on Wednesday, April 19.

The President had also on Wednesday announced the suspension of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal and Oke for their respective roles in the grass cutting scandal and the $50 million recovered by the EFCC.

“The president also ordered a full-scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, has made a claim,” presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, had said in a statement.

The investigative panel was tasked to unravel the “circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds, how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds,” Adesina said.